'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through Wayne Manor, Not a sound could be heard--especially not laughter. There were no stockings hung, and no tree filled with lights. Not a single Christmas decoration in sight.

Master Bruce, in his costume, and I, in my robe, Were up late, on the lookout, for evils unknown. I missed Christmas, but he said he didn't have time. Not at all, ever since the tender age of nine. It saddened me, watching him year after year, Never taking in joy--only dealing out fear.

"I say, Sir," I pleaded with all of my might, "Master Grayson is having a party tonight. Master Drake and Ms. Gordon are sure to be there. Why not leave this bleak cave and enjoy some fresh air?"

"I've outgrown Christmas, Alfred," he answered each year. "You can go if you want to, but I'm needed here." I sighed and walked upstairs to turn off the lights. "Merry Christmas," I said. His reply was, "Good night." I walked up to my bedroom, got under my sheets, And prepared to drift off into sweet, peaceful sleep.

Suddenly, a noise woke me up with such a clatter, I ran to my window for more on the matter! And what should my wandering eyes happen to find, But a man in a sleigh with eight reinde--no, nine!

I was off to tell Master Bruce what I had spied; The fat man in the sleigh was in for a surprise! But it was my surprise; he had beaten me there! Just how fast was this man who could sled through the air?

"Who are you?!" Master Bruce yelled, demanding to know. The fat man's belly shook as he laughed, "Ho ho ho! Don't you know?" he asked, giving his heels a click. "Santa Claus! Father Christmas! Kris Kringle! St. Nick!" The Batman moved slowly, not wanting to harm him. "Right. Santa. Let me take you back home to Arkham."

But the man disappeared! He was gone in a flash! Leaving only some traces of old soot and ash. Suddenly he was back, just as soon as he'd left! This man was indeed quite fast, in spite of his heft!

"I've come here in peace," said the man. "Have no fear. Batman said, "Then explain to me why you've come here." The jolly man laughed, "Christmastime is at hand! I bring gifts of joy to everyone in the land! The good people come to me with their requests For their hearts desire, and...I do my best."

"I need and want nothing from you," Batman said. "Go and take to the streets of Gotham with your sled." The man in red snickered and gave him a wink. "The person I'm here for is not who you think. I've no gift for you, though you've done much good, it's true, But the present I'm bringing tonight, well, is you."

"For when it comes to Christmas, you just disappear. And you leave behind all of the friends you hold dear." Bruce said, "Hold on a minute now, that isn't true. I give plenty of presents at Christmas, I do. Gifts of cash, food, drink, clothes, anything I can find. So then how can you say that I leave them behind?"

"Giving gifts is something for which you've had a knack, But the spirit of Christmas is still what you lack. Your gifts are all sent--none given face to face. And you've never even accepted an embrace. If you're given a gift, you just turn it away-- Denying your friends what their hearts want to say!"

"They know all of my feelings, and they all know mine; Gifts are simply a symbol for which I've no time." "Well, Christmas is a time for which, I've always felt, Allowing others in! Let your defenses melt!" "My defenses are FINE," Batman furrowed his brow. "It's just a sign of weakness to let them go down."

Santa sighed, "I have never, as long as I've lived, Had to teach, ''Tis better to receive than to give'! I came here to open up your heart and your mind. You're determined to keep them both closed up, I find. "You're just too filled with anger and pain and regret, Probably about both of your parents, I bet. You'd tell them you love them if you could somehow, Just like all of your friends want to tell you right now!

"Oh, the gift of allowing love to be expressed Is one of the greatest gifts that one can get. For the past is behind us; the future, unknown. And the moment is all that we have to call home.

"And so, now I leave you, with this to think on." And with that, this Saint Nicholas fellow was gone.

The master was silent. He was lost in thought. I wondered if this is what that fat man sought. "Alfred," he said sharply, giving me a fright. "You mentioned... something about a party tonight?"

Soon we were dressed and ready and out on our way! Surely this was a miracle, one had to say! He had come bearing gifts! And was going inside, When he stopped to look up, because he had spied...

"That Santa Claus fellow!" I exclaimed in the dark. Master Bruce simply smiled, looked up, and said, "Thanks, Clark." And I heard Batman say as he walked out of sight, "Merry Christmas to all... Well, at least for tonight."

Above: A 'Troll' HIFV and 'Mule' HISR operate in support of PAX Infantry, as they engage unknown hostile ALFs on Venus.

A Marine's Prayer wrote:This is my rifle. There are many weapons like it, but this one is mine.My rifle is my father. It guards my life. I must master it as I must master my life.Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will...

This is my armor. There are many suits like it, but this one is mine.My armor is my mother. It guards my life. I must master it as I must master my life.Without me, my armor is useless. Without my armor, I am useless. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its helmet and its guantlets. I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage as it will ever guard my legs, my arms, my eyes and my heart against damage. I will...

Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle, my armor and myself are the defenders of my planet. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life...

Part I: This Is How It Was, Pukes.In the wake of the War of Americas, and with national governments in collapse at the end of the 21st century, something had to fill the vacuum, and in many cases it was the returned veterans. They had lost a war, most of them had no jobs, many were sore as could be over the terms of the Treaty of Havana, especially the P.O.W. foul-up - and they knew how to fight. But it wasn't revolution; it was more like what happened in Russia in 1917 - the system collapsed; somebody else moved in.

The first known case, in San Juan, Texas, was typical. Some veterans got together as vigilantes to stop rioting and looting, hanged a few people (including two veterans) and decided not to let anyone but veterans on their committee. Just arbitrary at first - they trusted each other a bit, and they didn't trust anyone else. What started as an emergency measure became constitutional practice in a generation or two. First

spreading throughout the United Americas (the former USA, Canada, Carribean and Latin America) and then into South America, Europe and Africa. Finally, in 2171 the Chinese joined the United Nations Treaty uniting the Earth.

All (or most) of humanity is united under a single federal government, the United Nations Treaty Federation Council or simply UNT. Only those who have volunteered for federal service (in the military or otherwise) are permitted to vote, hold political office, and hold certain jobs, such as police work. Military service is not the only way to earn the franchise, however it is probably the most common.

Volunteering is open to anyone who has reached his or her eighteenth birthday and is competent to understand the oath. Non-citizens are neither oppressed nor shorted on rights, aside from sufferage and certain barred professions. It should also be noted that a person does not gain the right to vote while in the federal service, only afterward - active-duty military members cannot vote, but veterans can. The UNT is a capitalist democratic government, not fascist. The society, government, and military are multiracial and multi-religious. The government is not totalitarian. There is freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of conscience. There is no melding of the interests of government and capitalist private interprise - although certainly the wealthy do hold strong influence.

The United Nations Treaty Federation (UNT) is loosely based on the 20th Century United Nations, with a Security Council and General Assembly, but is not a successor to that organization. It is a global federal government that was formed by the nations taht were able to surive the War of Americas and Anglo-Chino War intact. At present, no individual nations continue to exist. Places are mentioned by what landmass or region they are in, such as saying New York City and Dehli, to refer to locations in North America and South Asia, not the United States or India. When Japan, Australia, and Ireland are mentioned, these names refer to the landmasses and not the former countries. The language of the UNT is a polygot of English, Chinesse, Spanish and Arabic; regional dialects are strong but most people can understand each other just fine.

The United Nations Treaty Federation maintains a military academy for each branch on each contenient, excepting Antartica. The UNT Sea Naval academy is located in Portsmouth, Britain. The UNT Army Academy is located near Houston, North America. The UNT Air Force Academy is located in Rio di Janero, South America. The UNT Space Navy (Spacy) has there Academy near Beijing, Asia, although all training after year two is held on Luna. UNT Marine Corps Academy is located at Adis Abbaba, Africa. Finally, the UNT Federal Police Academy is located in Sydney, Australia.

The United Nations Treaty Federation Assembly, is located in Paris, Europe. Paris serves as its capital city, although the traditional residence of the Executive Minister is London, Britain.

The United Nations Treaty Federation Colonial Ministry was formed in the the late 22nd Century, when overpopulation began causing famines, outbreaks of disease, and brush-fire wars over living space, food, and resources.

In order to relieve the Earth of the burden and allow it to heal, the UNT announced the Space Colonization 2300 Plan. The Colonial Ministry began the construction of orbital habitats, based on the designs and research of Gerard O'Neill, and located in the Earth-Lunar Lagrange Points. The colonies were then organized into administrative sectors called simply Points. About a third of the Earth's population would move to new homes in the spaces colonies throughout the 2300's. Terraforming of Mars and Venus began in Feburary 2314, a process that would take 100 years to complete. In the 2400's the first colonies on Mars and Venus were established. In 2503, the Colonial Ministry launched Project Possedion and Project Chronus, sending terraforming drones to Neptune and Saturn, colonization is expected to begin around 2610.

In order to maintain and satisfy energy concerns, the Colonial Ministry launches and maintains Solar Power Station Satellites, which broadcast energy to power stations on the ground. In addition, the Colonial Ministry also established the Jupiter Energy Corporation, which collect helium-3, hydrogen and methane from the upper atmosphere of the gas giant. A similar federally backed corporation, the Mercury Mineral Group collects resources from the innermost planet.

Oh, Batgirl III I was wondering where you got this cool looking picture? Are you going to build the mech and infantry shown in this pic? I love mecha so I'm always interested when someone builds one in the forums.

It is a piece of concept art from Eliott Johnson Lilly. Since the setting only exists "in my head," just about any bit of military themed, hard scifi artwork should fit. I won't be going into too much detail on the nature of the galaxy, the how the fancier bits of technology work, or any of the geopolitcal nitty-gritty. This campaignworld (and games in it) are meant to focus on the grunts.

Write ups on the history/organization/culture of the UNT Marine Corps, their standard issue equipment and support robots, some plot hooks, and (of course) builds will follow.

Gunnery Sergeant Hartman wrote:The Year of Our Lord 2506, humanity has come down from the trees spread throughout our solar system... I thought 'Holy God, mankind is fraking mighty!' Mars and Venus have been terraformed, Mercury and Luna boast sizable subterrainian cities, and we have established rapidily growing space colonies on Jupiter, the Belt, and moon after moon. 'Holy God,' I thought, 'Mankind is mother-fraking-mighty!' then I met you Pukes....

Of course, it ain't never been no utopia, thats why Uncle Nancy's Totally and Sadly Misguided Childern, aka the United Nations Treaty Space Marine Corps, aka The Corps -- My Corps! -- Is such a vital and underpaid part of our military might. You Pukes came to me monkeys, and your leaving me Marines! Oorah!

You scumbags were all stupid enough to enlist, ugly enough to become Marines, and crazy enough to make it into Special Forces. So now you ugly, stupid and insane peices of human waste have been assigned to the Jovian Expeditionary Force. The meanest division of marines in Uncle Nancy's inky black sky. So mean and so bad-ass, that Uncle Nancy sent you to the furthest corner of sky that the Good Lord made and gave Uncle Nancy dominion over.

Your job is to keep the Jovian colonies safe, secure, and productive. At all costs. Semper fi.

THIS IS MY MECHA...A Near Future Military Science Fiction Roleplaying Setting

Part II: This Is How It Is, Dogface.The United Nations Treaty Space Marine Corps (UNT Space Marines, UNT Marines or just The Corps) is the space-to-surface fighting arm of the UNT Government. Although the aerospace variablefighter pilots of the UN Space Navy get all the hype, its the grunts in the Corps that do the dirty work.

The UNTSMC was created in 2101 as the United Americas Outer Space Defense Corps which was later succeeded by the force under its present name after the Chino-American War where the Chinese were finally brought into the United Nations Treaty government in 2171.

The Space Marines are likely best known for their use of PAX powered armor and the Mk. 4.1 Assault Rifle, a poweful battle rifle with an underslung grenade launcher, and for the Mk. 56.0 Smart Gun, a large machine gun which is actually worn by the user using a sophisticated harness mechanism. Also prominant are the Mk G2 flamethrower and the Mk 42 sniper rifle. For more details see Weapons of the Space Marines below.

The Corps is divided along the same lines as the Space Navy at its highest levels of organization. There are five Divisions, one for each planet under UNT control, each of these divisions corresponds to one of the Spacy's five fleets: Earth Defense Fleet, Venus Defense Fleet, Mars Colonial Fleet, Mercury Expeditionary Force and the Jovian Expeditionary Force. Planetary fleets are divided into two hemispheric Battle Groups, and the division is likewise split into two brigades. Since each Navy battle group has five battleships (plus other ships) and Marines are only carried aboard Navy ships, each brigade is further split into a battalion.

The Lieutenant Colonel in command of a battalion is the highest ranked Marine routinly found on a ship, and commands the ten companies below him. From the battalion level down, all divisions are based on the marines role in a planetary assault. A Spacy battleship can carry ten dropships, maximum capacity of a drop ship is 100 Soldiers. Thus each Company gets their own dropship. A Company is divided into ten squadrons of soldiers, and is the lowest offical grouping in the Corps. In battle, however, tactics do call for squadrons to operate in two seprate fire-teams; typically one fire-team is commanded by the squad's Lieutenant, and the senior NCO commands the second fire-team. It should also be noted that this degree of organization is mostly "on paper," when short or personnel due to injury, illness, or losses, absences will occur. Due to the delays in sending personnel across interplanetary distances or even withing a single planetary theatre, multiple partial Squadrons within a company may be pooled in order to form a full strength Squadron.

You are a part of UNTSMC's Jovian Expeditionary Division. The Jovian Expeditionary Force is tasked with patroling Jupiter, its moons, protecting its early colonies, the mining operations, and surrounding space. You have been assigned to the Jovian Expeditionary Force South Brigade, First Battalion, E-Company, Force Reconnaissance Squadron One.

The exact details are classified beyond your security clearance, but the scuttlebutt has it that E-Company lost their entire Force Recon squad during a botched mine platform raid. E-Company is assigned to the dropship UNS Sonntag of battleship UNS Dezember. Other dropships in the group include the Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag, Freitag, Samstag, Weihnachstag, Christmas, and New Year.

Captain Gerhard F. Kohl is the highest ranking Marine on the UNS Dezember[i]; Lieutenant Commander Angela MacIntyre, his XO, is typically in charge of all Force Recon assignments;Captain Kurt Esienhower is the highest ranking Naval Officer and captain of UNS [i]Dezember[i];Commander Robert McManus, his XO, oversees most Marine/Navy liason duties.

The Space Marines of the UNS [i]Dezember[i] make up the First Battalion, dropship UNS [i]Sonntag[i] carries E-Company. E-Company is typically the 'first in' and its squadron makeup reflects this:

'Shepherd's Week, Wednesday' John Gay (1738) wrote:The sun was set; the night came on apace, And falling dews bewet around the place; The bat takes airy rounds on leathern wings, And the hoarse owl his woeful dirges sings.

BackgroundUnique among the members of Batman Incorporated, the Batman of Germany is an authorized agent of the Bundespolizei (BPOL), the German federal police force tasked with handling major disturbances and other emergencies beyond the scope of local police. After shortcomings in police procedures and training were revealed by the terrorist attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, a task force known as Special Group 9 (GSG-9) was formed to deal with terrorist incidents, especially hostage situations. With the rise of costumed criminals and supervillain threats in more recent decades, Special Group X (GSG-X) was formed to recruit and train a government-backed superhero: Graue Geist ("Grey Ghost").

Karl Haffner is the second man to assume the mantle of Graue Geist and the first to work in close cooperation with the Batman. When Batman Incorporated approached Haffner with the offer to join, he did so only on the condition that he not surrender his ties to his government. GSG-X lets Batman, Inc. keep its secrets and Bruce Wayne allows them to do the same. Graue Geist mostly concerns himself with organized crime, combating various terrorist gangs, which have plagued the country since the 1960s, and/or international traffickers of weapons and drugs... Common street-crime is fairly low in Germany as is supervillain activity, but Graue Geist tackles such problems when they arrive.

I really enjoyed reading that character concept. Two things though (and only because I'm so anal and nitpicky):

It would be "Grauer Geist". "Graue" is the female form while "Geist" is a male noune. Second option to counter that it sounds somewhat wrong would be to add the male-gender-specific personal pronoun “der”. So in German it would be “Grauer Geist” or “Der Graue Geist”. I love that German is SUCH an easy language...

And the other things you might want to know is that the German word for Armor is “Rüstung”. So it would be “Die Fledermaus Rüstung”.